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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page review of the book by military historian S.L.A. Marshal. This paper notes the controversy surround the book but concludes that whether Marshal’s estimate of only fifteen to twenty-five percent firing by infantrymen under enemy fire are accurate or not, his visions of what enhanced battlefield competency yield little to be criticized. No additional sources are listed.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPwwIImenAgainstFire.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
S.L.A. Marshal is a noted authority on warfare and the factors that drive it on the battlefield. Marshals "Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War"
was first published in 1947. It was an analysis of when soldiers on the battlefield fire their weapons and when they do not. It is important to note
that this work is controversial at best. Many critics content, in fact, that Marshal while Marshal was in the field and conducting interviews, he did not actually collect the
statistics he needed to compile such data. These critics suggest that Marshal simply fabricated much of his data. Never-the-less, Marshals book remains one of the most widely read
sources for insight into military strategy. In "Men Against Fire" Marshal claimed to have actually interviewed soldiers from four-hundred infantry rifle
companies in the Pacific and in Europe during World War II. According to the book, his interviews were conducted in the field immediately after combat. Those interviews led
Marshal to an astonishing realization. Only fifteen percent of infantrymen in "an average days action" actually fired their weapons. Only twenty-five percent of infantrymen "in the most aggressive
companies and under the most intense local pressure" actually fire their weapons during contact with the enemy! With this fact in mind Marshal proposed that the training which our
infantrymen complete be radically modified. His suggestions included adapting measures that increased group cohesiveness while at the same time enhanced individual responsibility.
Whether or not Marshals data on firing ratios are actually based on data gathered from infantrymen on the battleground, his book provides considerable insight into the principles of war and
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